"We came to a point where things weren't working," he said in an interview. "I asked Jenifer what she wanted to do about it. And I accepted her resignation."
Two weeks after Finley quit her $79,500-a-year post, Vrakas attempted to bring closure to the episode by saying he would not engage her in a public debate about whether he was doing a good job.
...Asked specifically what difficulties led Finley to resign six weeks into the administration, Vrakas declined to elaborate, saying he does not believe in criticizing other people publicly.Two Waukesha county supervisors weigh in on Jenifer's motive in resigning, James Jeskewitz and Vera Stroud.
"It just wasn't working out," he said. "I don't know that it's necessary to assign blame."
Jeskewitz:
Supervisor James Jeskewitz of Menomonee Falls said he found it unlikely that Finley would resign only because she disagreed with Vrakas' property tax strategy.Stroud:
"I have a tendency to think there's more than what's being said right now," Jeskewitz said. "I don't really know if we are hearing both sides of the story."
Supervisor Vera Stroud of Muskego said she has always liked Jenifer Finley, but that Finley never struck her as a devout conservative concerned about controlling tax increases.
"I have absolutely no idea what went on between those two," Stroud said.
Bill Christofferson and Deb Jordahl both comment on the role of staff vs. management in a political setting.
Christofferson talks about the number of chiefs of staff both former Milwaukee Mayor John Norquist and former Wisconsin Governor Tommy Thompson went through without any of this trouble.
It all has to do with something called loyalty. A friend of mine who has served a number of prominent elected officials calls it honor.He also points out,
Whatever that quality is, Jenifer Finley doesn't have it.
The Finley-Vrakas situation is a politician's nightmare. It's not even fun to watch.
Vrakas has handled this whole episode badly, starting with the first, terse news release that raised more questions than it answered. But, given the way it has played out, and Finley's decision to pour gasoline on the Yule log, it is hard to know what Vrakas could have done to prevent this public conflagration. It will eventually burn itself out, but the damage to his new administration will smolder for some time. And that's unfortunate.Deb Jordahl suggests that if Finley wanted to be the one running the Waukesha County government, she should have run against Vrakas.
In the end, Jenifer Finley didn’t run because she didn’t want to lose. But before she dropped out, a deal was struck that gave her a graceful way out and the promise of a new position. Perhaps Mrs. Finley believed she really was making a sacrifice. But once she accepted the job as Vrakas’ top aide, Finley agreed to support his decisions.
...Thoughtful people understand that sometimes things just don’t work out between two people; it doesn’t necessarily reflect badly on either one. But Jenifer Finley, who was probably reacting to the courthouse rumor mill, decided that she needed to defend her honor. In attempting to do so, she showed us that she had no honor.I think the tide of opinion is turning against Jenifer Finley. I think she overreached with her statement about the county budget. I think the short one day gains are going to be replaced by a long-term resentment of how she behaved after her resignation. Which is really too bad. She coulda been a contender. A leader in the community. Instead, she's fast becoming a punch line. Her press release is now looking like the dynamite ordered by the Wile E Coyote.
Worse still for her, she may succeed yet in making Vrakas look like a sympathetic figure. Vrakas has signalled he's willing to let the whole matter go away. Finley needs to, too.
